Koch is releasing the Director's Cut in Germany on Blu-ray April 26th. There's a very good transfer of it in MGM's vaults so we may very well have a second chance at this transfer here. Or it could just be an upconvert of Anchor Bay's less then stellar transfer. We'll have to wait and see.

There's also an "Ultimate Edition" coming out on the same day which is a 6-disc set (2 BD, 4 DVD). It will feature 3 cuts of the film in HD and SD (Director's Cut, US Theatrical, and European Theatrical) plus the TV version as a bonus.

There's also an "Ultimate Edition" coming out on the same day which is a 6-disc set (2 BD, 4 DVD). It will feature 3 cuts of the film in HD and SD (Director's Cut, US Theatrical, and European Theatrical) plus the TV version as a bonus.

Now why the fuck can't we get that here!!!??? I love how movies that are made in THIS COUNTRY get so much better treatment outside of it.

Robert Simandl

03-03-2013 01:42 AM

Got my order in for that ultimate edition!

Katatonia

03-03-2013 02:40 AM

Wow, 6 discs??? :eek1: That sounds amazing, although it looks like the pre-order price direct from Europe is quite steep. $75+ shipped from D&T. I love the movie, but I'll wait for some reviews first at that price.

buck135

03-03-2013 07:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Katatonia
(Post 729045)

Wow, 6 discs??? :eek1: That sounds amazing, although it looks like the pre-order price direct from Europe is quite steep. $75+ shipped from D&T. I love the movie, but I'll wait for some reviews first at that price.

Amazon.de has it for $65 (without shipping). I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm going to pass. I still have the ancient Limited Edition Anchor Bay Director's Cut as well as the Universal Blu-ray. Ten years ago I would have bought this without any hesitation. All in all, it's very cool that this film is getting such a great release.

Katatonia

03-03-2013 07:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by buck135
(Post 729066)

Amazon.de has it for $65 (without shipping).

That's still too expensive for me to justify the cost for pre-order of a single film. And there are a lot of German Blu-rays out there with truly poor transfers. Since it's Koch, it's probably okay, but there's no way I'd risk the money without seeing some reviews first.

buck135

03-03-2013 08:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Katatonia
(Post 729068)

That's still too expensive for me to justify the cost for pre-order of a single film. And there are a lot of German Blu-rays out there with truly poor transfers. Since it's Koch, it's probably okay, but there's no way I'd risk the money without seeing some reviews first.

Good point. The only German blu-ray I own is the Limited Edition Night of the Living Dead digibook which uses the inferior Network transfer but hell, the book is nice. :)

I've got the French edition which has 3 versions on one disc. Although the disc is cramped the Dir Cut looks amazing. The German Sp Ed looks nice but would have preferred they dropped the DVD's from the package and lowered the price.

Demoni

04-26-2013 10:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dickieduvet
(Post 733818)

I've got the French edition which has 3 versions on one disc. Although the disc is cramped the Dir Cut looks amazing. The German Sp Ed looks nice but would have preferred they dropped the DVD's from the package and lowered the price.

Koch Media always price their special editions like this.

From a review I just read, the directorīs cut presented on the Koch Media edition is the worst of the three... at least thatīs what the online translator translated.

dickieduvet

04-27-2013 04:13 AM

That's odd as Koch and Filmmedia who put out the french release shared the transfers, The Director's cut looks wonderful and the other 2 cuts look very inferior.

Demoni

04-27-2013 05:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dickieduvet
(Post 733851)

That's odd as Koch and Filmmedia who put out the french release shared the transfers, The Director's cut looks wonderful and the other 2 cuts look very inferior.

Iīm holding for some reviews comparing the French and this release so I can decide if the extra money is worth spending.

Demoni

04-27-2013 06:21 PM

Donīt know what to think of it... maybe someone with the French edition could grab some screens to some of the images of the link for a better opinion.

The image of each film versions, put simply, a cheek! What Koch Media as sold to us under the title of "Ultimate" is only marginally better than the DVD already available. Although the focus has been extrapolated into nice well-lit close-ups, for most of the remaining scenes are just blurry and washed out. In addition, you get to see all the movie mistakes one can imagine. Film grain, dirt, cracks, fibrillation, the full range is represented here. All the little things that have Tarantino and Rodriguez added later in their Grindhouse project, here you get from home to do so. That may add to the charm of this type of film, because this is not, is like the Grindhouse project to deliberate stylistic device, but simply to remove unwanted dirt, it's just a nuisance that leaves an almost forgotten, a Blu-Ray to see.

The English original is still okay, in places, offers a very reasonable surround sound, the subwoofer remains silent. The music, a few sound effects and the battle in the end come across quite well, and the original Ash has some other sayings on the lips than in German. The ancient language is here in even greater contrast to Ash's expression. But if you want to look at the German film, suffered a similar disappointment as the picture.
Namely the German sound is available only in stereo, which is even worse, because for many years on the market of the DVD title on a German 5.1. Dolby Digital track has. Surround sound in any given scene, but the dialogue is clear and clean of course, and also Danny Elfmanns soundtrack comes to advantage. But here a lot more would have been possible.

The single-disc edition has only a small picture gallery with international posters and video / DVD covers. Plus, there's the movie trailer in German and English, but in a picture quality that makes one think longingly of the good old VHS time. Of extras you should not speak in this context rather. There is an audio commentary for DC with the brothers Raimi and starring Bruce Campbell, unfortunately without German subtitles.

The much better equipped Ultimate Edition comes with several featurettes that fail all rather modest.
At the "Creating the Deadites" come KNB EFX Greg Nicotero and Howard Berger employees to speak, and show us how the creatures have emerged. In addition, there are also admiring some concept drawings.
The interviews with Raimi, Campbell and Toppert it was in part already in the making-of feature to see that less than a making-of, because it turns out to be a long promo trailer. At least the canceled scenes that are both in the original language as well as comment, offer something new, even if not very much.

Conclusion:

It is impossible to understand what Koch Media has since done with this long-awaited highlight of the B-picture and trash film. Pressed unkind to the disk (s), poor picture and sound quality, a few extras - Finito. The film, which certainly belongs to the best of what there is to see in the Trash sector, this Ultimate Edition is hardly fair. An hour of bonus material should not be the Ultimum.

Nevertheless, the Ultimate Edition is worth the money, if only because every single version of this movie is included. Director's Cut, available separately, however, should be avoided because it does not even contain the known end of the German cinema release. (Ms)